This is an assignment in which we had to pick three songs and tell how they were related to African history and music one could be any song we desired another was any song before 1974 and the other had to be a song from a non English speaking country. In our explanation of how our selected songs relate to African musicology we had to explain he songs similarities in the styles of the songs by telling weather or not they possessed some qualities of African musicology such as call and response, repetition, and multiple back round sounds from different instruments.
For the any time any were song i picked the message by grand master flash and the furious 5 form 1982 I feel that it is influenced by African ethnomusicology by its use of the techniques of call and response repetition and complex back round sounds as well of it distinctly telling a story which are all major traits of ancient African musicology. The message is a story about a man who grows up in the ghetto and is alerting the public about what it is like living their and he wants to leave but the situation he is in prevents him from leaving and he feels like he is going crazy living their and is telling you about the bad things happening around him.The songs chorus has become very well know that has been sampled by many popular artists and in movies such as happy feet.
The lyrics to the message are as follows
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
Broken glass everywhere
People pissing on a stranger, you know they just don’t care
I can't take the smell, I can't take the noise no more
Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice
Rats in the front room, roaches in the back
Junkie's in the alley with a baseball bat
I tried to get away, but I couldn't get far
'Cause a man with a tow-truck repossessed my car
Chorus:
Don't push me cause I'm close to the edge
I'm trying not to lose my head, ah huh-huh-huh
[2nd and 5th: ah huh-huh-huh]
[4th: say what?]
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
Standing on the front stoop, hangin' out the window
Watching all the cars go by, roaring as the breezes blow
Crazy lady livin' in a bag
Eatin' out of garbage pails, she used to be a fag-hag
Said she danced the tango, skipped the light fandango
The Zircon Princess seemed to lost her senses
Down at the peepshow, watching all the creeps
So she can tell the stories to the girls back home
She went to the city and got Social Security
She had to get a pimp, she couldn't make it on her own
[2nd Chorus]
My brother's doing bad stole my mother's TV
Says she watches too much, it’s just not healthy
“All My Children” in the daytime, “Dallas” at night
Can't even see the game or the Sugar Ray fight
The bill collectors they ring my phone
And scare my wife when I'm not home
Got a bum education, double-digit inflation
Can't take the train to the job, there's a strike at the station
Neon King Kong standin' on my back
Can't stop to turn around, broke my sacroiliac
A mid-range migraine, cancered membrane
Sometimes I think I'm going insane, I swear I might hijack a plane
[3rd Chorus]
My son said: ”Daddy, I don't wanna go to school
Cause the teacher's a jerk, he must think I'm a fool
And all the kids smoke reefer, I think it'd be cheaper
If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper
I’d dance to the beat, shuffle my feet
Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps
Cause it's all about money, ain't a damn thing funny
You got to have a con in this land of milk and honey"
They pushed that girl in front of the train
Took her to the doctor, sewed her arm on again
Stabbed that man right in his heart
Gave him a transplant for a brand new start
I can't walk through the park, cause it's crazy after dark
Keep my hand on my gun, cause they got me on the run
I feel like a outlaw, broke my last glass jaw
Hear them say: “You want some more?" livin' on a seesaw
[4th Chorus]
A child is born with no state of mind
Blind to the ways of mankind
God is smiling on you but he's frowning too
Because only God knows what you’ll go through
You’ll grow in the ghetto, living second rate
And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate
The places you play and where you stay
Looks like one great big alley way
You'll admire all the number book takers
Thugs, pimps, pushers and the big money makers
Driving big cars, spending twenties and tens
And you wanna grow up to be just like them, huh,
Smugglers, scramblers, burglars, gamblers
Pickpockets, peddlers even panhandlers
You say: “I'm cool, I'm no fool!”
But then you wind up dropping out of high school
Now you're unemployed, all non-void
Walking ‘round like you're Pretty Boy Floyd
Turned stickup kid, look what you’ve done did
Got sent up for a eight year bid
Now your manhood is took and you're a Maytag
Spent the next two years as a undercover fag
Being used and abused to serve like hell
'Til one day you was found hung dead in your cell
It was plain to see that your life was lost
You was cold and your body swung back and forth
But now your eyes sing the sad, sad song
Of how you lived so fast and died so young
For my second song it had to be from 1974 or earlier it was written in 1974 but not produced until 1975 but the song was accepted because it is so amazing. The song is why can we be friends by war. It was released in 1975 when race relations were tenser than today and it sent the simple message of you should be every ones friend and race or gender should not be an issue.It was played in space when NASA beamed it to the linking of Soviet Cosmonots and U.S astronauts in 1975. This songs pleasing melodies and important message makes it a great song. It was influenced by African musicology because of its extensive use of call and response by its repeated asking of the question of why cant we be friend and its message of peace love and under standing.
The lyrics to why cant we be friends are as follows
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
I seen ya around for a long long time
I really remember you when you drank my wine
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
I'd seen ya walkin' down in Chinatown
I called ya but you could not look around
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
I pay my money to the welfare line
I see ya standing in it every time
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
The color of your skin don't matter to me
As long as we can live in harmony
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
I'd kinda' like to be the president
So I could show you how your money's spent
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Sometimes I don't speak right
But yet I know what I'm talking about
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
I know you're working for the CIA
They wouldn't have you in the mafia
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
For the song from a non English speaking country I picked Ride of The Valkyries by Richard Wagner which was first written in Germany in July 23rd 1851 the full opera was not preformed until 1870 against Wagner's wishes.Ride of The Valkyries uses call and distinct call and response techniques with its use of instruments to signal the use of other instruments and the transition in to crescendos. Ride of the Valkyries is a classic that is used as a stand in when ever music is needed to make and the rise of something needs to be made dramatic. I has appeared in many movies such as Apocalypse Now .
their is no words in the song but the musical notes to playing the song are as follow
Kabbour's African musicology page
This is an assignment in which we had to pick three songs and tell how they were related to African history and music one could be any song we desired another was any song before 1974 and the other had to be a song from a non English speaking country. In our explanation of how our selected songs relate to African musicology we had to explain he songs similarities in the styles of the songs by telling weather or not they possessed some qualities of African musicology such as call and response, repetition, and multiple back round sounds from different instruments.
For the any time any were song i picked the message by grand master flash and the furious 5 form 1982 I feel that it is influenced by African ethnomusicology by its use of the techniques of call and response repetition and complex back round sounds as well of it distinctly telling a story which are all major traits of ancient African musicology. The message is a story about a man who grows up in the ghetto and is alerting the public about what it is like living their and he wants to leave but the situation he is in prevents him from leaving and he feels like he is going crazy living their and is telling you about the bad things happening around him.The songs chorus has become very well know that has been sampled by many popular artists and in movies such as happy feet.
The lyrics to the message are as follows
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
Broken glass everywhere
People pissing on a stranger, you know they just don’t care
I can't take the smell, I can't take the noise no more
Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice
Rats in the front room, roaches in the back
Junkie's in the alley with a baseball bat
I tried to get away, but I couldn't get far
'Cause a man with a tow-truck repossessed my car
Chorus:
Don't push me cause I'm close to the edge
I'm trying not to lose my head, ah huh-huh-huh
[2nd and 5th: ah huh-huh-huh]
[4th: say what?]
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
Standing on the front stoop, hangin' out the window
Watching all the cars go by, roaring as the breezes blow
Crazy lady livin' in a bag
Eatin' out of garbage pails, she used to be a fag-hag
Said she danced the tango, skipped the light fandango
The Zircon Princess seemed to lost her senses
Down at the peepshow, watching all the creeps
So she can tell the stories to the girls back home
She went to the city and got Social Security
She had to get a pimp, she couldn't make it on her own
[2nd Chorus]
My brother's doing bad stole my mother's TV
Says she watches too much, it’s just not healthy
“All My Children” in the daytime, “Dallas” at night
Can't even see the game or the Sugar Ray fight
The bill collectors they ring my phone
And scare my wife when I'm not home
Got a bum education, double-digit inflation
Can't take the train to the job, there's a strike at the station
Neon King Kong standin' on my back
Can't stop to turn around, broke my sacroiliac
A mid-range migraine, cancered membrane
Sometimes I think I'm going insane, I swear I might hijack a plane
[3rd Chorus]
My son said: ”Daddy, I don't wanna go to school
Cause the teacher's a jerk, he must think I'm a fool
And all the kids smoke reefer, I think it'd be cheaper
If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper
I’d dance to the beat, shuffle my feet
Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps
Cause it's all about money, ain't a damn thing funny
You got to have a con in this land of milk and honey"
They pushed that girl in front of the train
Took her to the doctor, sewed her arm on again
Stabbed that man right in his heart
Gave him a transplant for a brand new start
I can't walk through the park, cause it's crazy after dark
Keep my hand on my gun, cause they got me on the run
I feel like a outlaw, broke my last glass jaw
Hear them say: “You want some more?" livin' on a seesaw
[4th Chorus]
A child is born with no state of mind
Blind to the ways of mankind
God is smiling on you but he's frowning too
Because only God knows what you’ll go through
You’ll grow in the ghetto, living second rate
And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate
The places you play and where you stay
Looks like one great big alley way
You'll admire all the number book takers
Thugs, pimps, pushers and the big money makers
Driving big cars, spending twenties and tens
And you wanna grow up to be just like them, huh,
Smugglers, scramblers, burglars, gamblers
Pickpockets, peddlers even panhandlers
You say: “I'm cool, I'm no fool!”
But then you wind up dropping out of high school
Now you're unemployed, all non-void
Walking ‘round like you're Pretty Boy Floyd
Turned stickup kid, look what you’ve done did
Got sent up for a eight year bid
Now your manhood is took and you're a Maytag
Spent the next two years as a undercover fag
Being used and abused to serve like hell
'Til one day you was found hung dead in your cell
It was plain to see that your life was lost
You was cold and your body swung back and forth
But now your eyes sing the sad, sad song
Of how you lived so fast and died so young
For my second song it had to be from 1974 or earlier it was written in 1974 but not produced until 1975 but the song was accepted because it is so amazing. The song is why can we be friends by war. It was released in 1975 when race relations were tenser than today and it sent the simple message of you should be every ones friend and race or gender should not be an issue.It was played in space when NASA beamed it to the linking of Soviet Cosmonots and U.S astronauts in 1975. This songs pleasing melodies and important message makes it a great song. It was influenced by African musicology because of its extensive use of call and response by its repeated asking of the question of why cant we be friend and its message of peace love and under standing.
The lyrics to why cant we be friends are as follows
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
I seen ya around for a long long time
I really remember you when you drank my wine
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
I'd seen ya walkin' down in Chinatown
I called ya but you could not look around
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
I pay my money to the welfare line
I see ya standing in it every time
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
The color of your skin don't matter to me
As long as we can live in harmony
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
I'd kinda' like to be the president
So I could show you how your money's spent
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Sometimes I don't speak right
But yet I know what I'm talking about
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
I know you're working for the CIA
They wouldn't have you in the mafia
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
Why can't we be friends
For the song from a non English speaking country I picked Ride of The Valkyries by Richard Wagner which was first written in Germany in July 23rd 1851 the full opera was not preformed until 1870 against Wagner's wishes.Ride of The Valkyries uses call and distinct call and response techniques with its use of instruments to signal the use of other instruments and the transition in to crescendos. Ride of the Valkyries is a classic that is used as a stand in when ever music is needed to make and the rise of something needs to be made dramatic. I has appeared in many movies such as Apocalypse Now .
their is no words in the song but the musical notes to playing the song are as follow